Faculty of Pharmacy, UiTM Puncak Alam, has successfully organised a two-day workshop on “Innovative preclinical drug screening with Data acquisition systems—PowerLab” on June 21st–22nd, 2023. This workshop was designed to impart skills in drug discovery and development through pharmacological and toxicological evaluations. The participants of this workshop were external and internal trainees for the PowerLab system. This comprehensive two-day programme organised by the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, and the CPD committee of the Faculty of Pharmacy, UiTM, involved a series of informative lectures and hands-on sessions, which were conducted in collaboration with Labquip Sdn. Bhd. and AD Instruments, Lexington Drive, Bella Vista, New South Wales, Australia.
The programme was keynoted by Associate Professor Dr. Fazlin Mohd Fauzi, Head, Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, UiTM. The speakers of the workshop were Associate Professor Dr. Hanish Singh Jayasingh Chellammal and Mr. Anthouan Nathan (Labquip Malaysia/AD Instruments Australia). The programme was facilitated by Associate Professor Dato’ Dr. Vellayan Subramaniam, Associate Professor Dr. Mizaton Hazizul Hasan, and Mr. Jaya Prakashrao Damadoo (Labquip Malaysia/AD Instruments Australia).
The workshop was nourished with various preclinical recordings of cardiovascular parameters such as electrocardiogram, pulse, heart rate variability, and the setup of the Powerlab instrument for pharmacological data acquisition and physiology research. The second day of the programme started with a demonstration of hands-on experience in invasive and non-invasive blood pressure monitoring in a preclinical animal model. The workshop adhered to the ethical practices of using animals according to the ethics committee of the UiTM. The system settings for PowerLab for preclinical data acquisition were the key training provided for the participants. The system enables highly accurate real-time analysis of blood and cardiac pressure and is suitable for humans and laboratory rodents. This hands-on training provided a precise benefit to the participating students and lecturers from various health science disciplines. This course equipped the participants with the confidence to apply their new skills and knowledge of data acquisition systems to existing and future experimental protocols. The programme was concluded by concluding remarks by Professor Dr. Kalavathy Ramasamy, Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation, Faculty of Pharmacy, UiTM.